Spirit Lake Waterworks, IA
Lead detected, under the action levels
Latest 90th-percentile lead: 1 ppb (monitoring period 2023-2025). The federal action level is 15 ppb today and drops to 10 ppb in Nov 2027; EPA's health goal is 0. Lead was measured in sampled homes but the 90th percentile is under both action levels. EPA's health goal for lead is zero, so test your own tap if your home was built before 1986 or anyone in it is pregnant or a young child.
Spirit Lake Waterworks at a glance
Spirit Lake Waterworks serves about 6,167 people through 2,200 service connections, which makes it a medium-sized system under EPA's size classes. It is owned by a local government (city, town, county or district) and draws surface water, in Dickinson County, Iowa. EPA system ID: IA3070078; phone on file: 712-336-2127. Ask them for your address in their service line inventory - every system had to publish one by Oct 2024.
Lead results over time
Against the period ending 2022 (1 ppb) the latest result is about the same. The highest 90th-percentile result EPA holds for Spirit Lake Waterworks is 5 ppb across 4 monitoring periods, none of them over 15 ppb.
| Period ending | 90th-percentile lead |
|---|---|
| 2025 | 1 ppb |
| 2022 | 1 ppb |
| 2019 | 1 ppb |
| 2016 | 5 ppb |
How Spirit Lake Waterworks compares
Of the 1,066 Iowa systems with a lead result, the median latest reading is 1.4 ppb; 4 are over 15 ppb right now and 36 have gone over at some point. Spirit Lake Waterworks's 1 ppb sits at the 45th percentile in Iowa and the 55th nationally (higher means more lead).
Other water systems in Dickinson County
9 other systems share Dickinson County; 4 of them have a higher latest lead result than Spirit Lake Waterworks. If you are unsure which one supplies your house, the name on your water bill decides it.
| System | People | Latest lead |
|---|---|---|
| Milford Municipal Utilities | 3,431 | 2 ppb |
| Lake Park Municipal Utilities | 1,167 | 4 ppb |
| Arnolds Park Water Department | 1,113 | 2 ppb |
| Okoboji Water Supply | 776 | 1 ppb |
| Wahpeton Water Supply | 408 | 0 (not detected) |
| Terril Municipal Waterworks | 334 | 1 ppb |
| West Okoboji | 308 | 4 ppb |
| Superior Water System | 135 | 0 (not detected) |
| Central Water System | 25 | - |
Your move
Test your own tap with a certified lab first-draw sample; Spirit Lake, IA may offer free or low-cost kits through the utility. If your own line is lead, replacing the private side runs about $1,200-$12,300 (EPA average about $4,700). Ask Spirit Lake Waterworks whether it covers that cost before hiring anyone - many utilities now do.
These figures describe homes the utility sampled, not your tap. Only your service line record or a test of your own water answers the question for your house. The lead result guide covers how utilities pick the homes they sample. Systems that went over once often dip back under; here is what that means.